A man uses a smartphone while sitting in front of an advertisement for Samsung Electronics Co. in the COEX mall in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Samsung is scheduled to release earnings results on Jan. 6. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Millennials Are Less Addicted to Social Media Than Generation X

A new report shows that Generation X is more addicted to social media than millennials. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg)

For those who just assume that each new generation is more addicted to electronic gadgets than the one that came before it, new research suggests that’s wrong. Nielsen studied 9,000 smartphone and 1,300 tablet users from across the United States to determine their social media usage. (Incidentally, they also learned smartphones are used by 77 percent of people over 50; 94 percent in the 35-49 age range; and 97 percent of those 18-34.) Jonah Engel Bromwich reports for the The New York Times:

“Adults 35 to 49 were found to spend an average of 6 hours 58 minutes a week on social media networks, compared with 6 hours 19 minutes for the younger group. More predictably, adults 50 and over spent significantly less time on the networks: an average of 4 hours 9 minutes a week.”

Incidentally, Facebook remains dominant on mobile devices among social media networks, with more unique users than Instagram and Twitter combined. To get the full Nielsen report, click here.